Not Without You
by CullensTwiMistress
Summary: One event changes things. How many lives have to suffer? Drabble War Prompt Challenge: Pictures 6 and 9. AH; BxE; dark themes.
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: This isn't my usual type of story. It contains dark themes and should be read with caution and a large box of tissues.**

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_**Not Without You **_

**Summary: One event changes things. How many lives have to suffer? Drabble War Prompt Challenge: Pictures 6 and 9. BxE. M (Dark Themes) Angst/Tragedy**

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1.

I wake with a start.

Pain shoots through me as my body remembers.

Images fill my mind, my brain working itself into a frenzy, recalling the last few hours.

What could have been, but will never be.

What should be, but won't.

What was, that is now gone.

I'm left with nothing but memories and hope that maybe someday, sooner than later, I'll find you again.

You were there.

You're always there.

But there, is no more.

Holding my head in my hands, its weight throbs against my fingertips.

My physical pain is nothing until I find you again.

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***Looks around* sooooo... who's with me?**

**Huge thanks to BellaEdwardlover1991 for lending me her beta skills and telling me my grammar is getting better with everything I send her, and to WitchyVampireGirl for pre-reading and helping me up the angst. **

**Scrimmy couldn't get passed chapter 3 without some Ativan... I promissed her I wouldn't send her any more angst to pre-read for me. You've all been warned!**

**Now, for more of these wonderful picture prompt stories and to check out the 2 pictures that inspired this, please visit the Drabble War group on Facebook.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Crap, I always forget this part... I do not own Twilight, but I do own a new box of tissues. You should get one too.**

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2.

I should have been alarmed that you weren't answering my calls.

I was running late and wanted to tell you I was on my way.

I should have made sure and called your co-workers to know of your whereabouts.

Hindsight is twenty twenty.

I guess I wasn't weary enough of the dangers lurking...everywhere.

Nothing will bring you back fast enough for me.

All I have to do is wait, and wait I do.

I sit, contemplating ways to make time go by faster until the next time I can see you.

It won't be soon enough.

I'm so worried about you.

Please, tell me you're not suffering.

I sit in the waiting room, the white walls surrounding me are a sharp contrast to the blood stained shoes I'm currently wearing.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

Minutes tick by, every one of them feels like hours.

People walk in and out of the small room.

I hear whispers of names, none of them yours.

So many lives. So many hopes. So many dreams.

Shattered.

My tears ebb as my body goes into shock.

I'm blank, staring into nothing.

My arms are stiff; fingers numb.

Legs that carried me to you finally find relief, resting while they can.

All I see is black.

I sit back and concentrate on breathing.

Counting each breath.

Hoping you're still breathing.

Praying you never stop.

Believing you're still alive.

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**This is the last update until I get home in about 7 hours...**


	4. Chapter 4

4.

Eyes wide, screams echo through hallways.

Steps, quick and steady, finding purpose in their destination.

I sit, unmoving.

Restless. Tired.

Heart, beating too quickly.

Mind, going a mile a minute.

Soul, dying to be with yours.

I know you're here.

I feel you.

The blood on my shoes is yours.

It's part of you.

I know they brought you here.

I wish they would have let me be there with you.

Too many, they said.

Meet us there, they said.

I'm here.

Where are you?

I know you're close.

They can't tell me.

No identification. Misplaced paperwork.

I know who you are.

Will you tell them for me, baby?

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**Thoughts? Theories?**


	5. Chapter 5

5.

Eyes search mine.

Sympathy.

Please, no...this can't happen.

My heart sinks.

Chest constricting.

Fists clenching.

Whispers.

Unconscious.

I nod.

Yes, you're my only family.

I need you, Bella.

Please be okay.

I scrub my face and stand.

The nurse brings me to your room.

Beeping. Wires. Machines.

It's all too much.

I bite my fist to keep from screaming.

You're alive, but for how long?

This is so fucked up.

You were at work.

It was supposed to be safe.

How could this happen?

I kissed you goodbye this morning.

You smiled, eyes twinkling.

Now, there are bandages everywhere and a machine helping you breathe.

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**So... now you know who's POV this is...**

**I love hearing your theories... **


	6. Chapter 6

6.

I hold your hand.

Its familiar warmth gone, its chilliness shoots through me.

Memories fill my head.

Images of happy days.

Secret nights.

Everything you were.

Tears spill down my cheeks, quiet sobs, all for you.

Nurses tell me I need to go home.

I need to change my clothes.

They ask if there's anyone else.

I shake my head, words escape my throat.

I explain our situation.

We're it for each other.

Everyone else is gone.

Without you, I'm nothing.

Machines beep faster, louder.

People come into your room.

They make me leave.

Eyes wide, I scream.

Your pain is mine.

Please, baby, I need you.

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**Thoughts?**

**Thank you so much for sticking with me...**


	7. Chapter 7

7.

Time elapses.

The chair in the hall is uncomfortable.

But you're still alive.

They brought you back.

Blood.

So much blood.

One of the nurses takes pity on me and lends me some scrubs.

He even lets me shower.

He knows your situation.

Our situation.

They all do.

I hear their voices in the dark speak our names.

Days.

Three, to be exact.

Without you beside me, your smell, your breath, your essence, I can't function.

I can't breathe.

My mind is lost.

So many questions.

How could he not stop in time?

You were on your way out the door.

Freak accident.

Bad timing.

Driver error.

Speeding.

Two survivors.

For now.

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**Thoughts?**

**Soooo... it's not 9/11... good theory though...**

**Thank you so much for sticking with me! :o)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry this is late, we had a power outage...**

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8.

Shaking.

Whispers.

Smiles.

Eyes bright and shining.

Unshed tears.

Relief.

The nurse leads me to your room.

You're awake.

You look at me.

Blank, at first.

Understanding crosses your features as you take in your surroundings.

You bring your hand to your face.

Where you have bandages on your forehead and cheek.

Pain flashes in your eyes.

I see the moment you regain your memory.

There was a lot of glass.

A lot of blood loss.

The car went right through the window of the coffee shop.

Heading straight for the table next to you.

Glass shattering.

Shards everywhere.

Three patrons and one waitress.

All dead.

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**Thoughts?**

**And the mystery unfolds...**

**Thank you so much for reading. I love hearing your thoughts and theories! :o)**


	9. Chapter 9

9.

I was on my way to meet you for coffee.

But then I saw the car going too fast.

I was there first to stop the blood.

I could do nothing for the others while they waited to be saved.

Screams echoed around me.

Your life.

My life.

Everything changed.

I pushed my way into the shop.

Uncaring of my own body's screams as I eased my way through the mayhem.

You cut your scalp.

Your lower body was stuck under some of the wreckage.

So much blood.

I took off my jacket and applied it to your head wound.

They say I saved you.

I looked into your unseeing eyes as consciousness escaped you.

Your name escaped my lips.

I held you until they came and took you away.

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**And now we know a little more...**


	10. Chapter 10

10.

Six days in the hospital.

Pain medication.

Stitches.

Casts.

You're only awake briefly before darkness takes over once more.

News of the driver being released from custody makes the rounds into the hospital.

It was an accident, his car had faulty breaks when he crashed into the coffee shop.

Fists clench, nostrils flare. Anger...so much anger.

He lives as you lay here broken.

I make it out into the world to go to your best friend's funeral.

I drive passed your favorite café.

Windows are boarded up.

Flowers and memorials litter the facade.

Tears and sobs escape me.

I won't make it without you.

If you're not here, I have nothing.

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**More?**


	11. Chapter 11

11.

Surgeries.

Your legs are not healing well.

The blood isn't flowing the way it's supposed to.

They think there is still some internal bleeding so they have to amputate one of them.

I kiss your lips, dried and chapped, before they wheel you off.

You won't dance again any time soon, but you're still here.

I should be grateful.

You're a survivor.

But at what cost?

He walked out of the shop that day.

Only a small cut to his forehead as officers carted him away to the station.

Closing my eyes only brings images of you and Alice dancing at her wedding.

She's dead and you may never walk again.

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**More?**

**Thanks to the few that are still with me at this point...**


	12. Chapter 12

12.

Eleven days.

More surgeries, so many setbacks.

Your body, too weak and broken, gives up with one last breath.

I kiss your forehead one last time.

Your skin is ashen under my lips.

You lay here lifeless, while he's still out there.

I close my eyes and let the tears come and consume me.

I can't think of a life where you're not in it.

You were my life.

Nurses come and go.

They let me stay with you for a long time.

There is nobody else.

Our friends are consumed with their own grief.

Too much, too soon, for too many people.

Something's pressing on my chest, choking me.

I can't breathe.

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***sobs***


	13. Chapter 13

13.

Your funeral is quiet.

Alice is there.

She's in the ground next to you.

Jasper is beside me.

Our sobs echo through the cemetery as they lower your casket.

The priest says his last words.

I hear nothing.

I see black.

Anger consumes my every thought.

Why?

You were only twenty-two.

We were going to get married next summer.

We'd just moved into our house.

Things were perfect.

And now this?

I can't put into words or thoughts how I feel.

You're the only one who'd understand.

You'd hold my hands and say soothing words, comforting me.

My head hurts.

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**I'm sorry for making you all hurt...**


	14. Chapter 14

14.

I walk into my house.

Its emptiness only a reminder that you're gone.

I shudder, my body aching to search you out.

I'm so used to you being here.

Everywhere I look, it's you I see.

You're on my mind; in my heart.

My half that will never be.

The house that you loved is an empty shell without you in it.

You loved this place so much, every room is a reflection of you.

I can't be here.

I can't even sleep here.

Our bed smells like you.

The closet is full of your things.

Your voice is all I hear as I reach for my gun.

And walk out the front door, never looking back.

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**uh oh...**


	15. Chapter 15

15.

I find his name in the newspaper.

Google is a beautiful thing.

His house is small with a white picket fence and a swing in the backyard.

I see red when I watch him kiss his wife goodbye and get into his shiny new car.

Why does he get to keep the things he loves?

I'll never have that.

My reason for living is six feet under.

I follow him downtown, where I assume he's going to work.

I bide my time as I gather my nerves.

Eyes closed, I think of you.

Hours pass, you're still on my mind.

Nothing has changed.

It's dark when I see him walk out into the alley where his car is parked.

One bullet is all it takes.

He's down, but the pain lingers, unyielding.

Another bullet frees me from it all.

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**So thank you to all that stuck to this until the end. I know, it's not HEA, but life doesn't always work out that way. This was a very hard writing excercise for me, not because it was hard to write, but because I was worried about what people would think. Thank you for not bringing the pitchforks...**


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